Cancer Statistics in Korea: Incidence, Mortality, Survival, and Prevalence in 2015

Abstract

Purpose: This study presents the 2015 nationwide cancer statistics in Korea, including the incidence, survival, prevalence, and mortality.

Materials and methods: Cancer incidence data from 1999 to 2015 was obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database and followed until December 31, 2016. Mortality data from 1983 to 2015 were obtained from Statistics Korea. The prevalence was defined as the number of cancer patients alive on January 1, 2016, among all cancer patients diagnosed since 1999. Crude and age-standardized rates (ASRs) for incidence, mortality and prevalence and 5-year relative survivals were also calculated.

Results: Herein, 214,701 and 76,855 Koreans were newly diagnosed and died from cancer in 2015, respectively. The ASRs for cancer incidence and mortality in 2015 were 258.9 and 82.0 per 100,000, respectively. The overall cancer incidence rate has increased significantly by 3.4% annually from 1999 to 2012, and started to decrease after 2012 (2012-2015, annual percent change, -6.1%). However, the overall cancer mortality has decreased 2.7% annually since 2002. The 5-year relative survival rate for patients diagnosed with cancer between 2011 and 2015 was 70.7%, an improvement from the 41.2% for patients diagnosed between 1993 and 1995.

Conclusion: Age-standardized cancer incidence rates have decreased since 2012 and mortality rates have declined since 2002; however, the 5-year survival rates have improved remarkably from 1993-1995 to 2011-2015 in Korea.

Keywords: Incidence; Korea; Mortality; Neoplasms; Prevalence; Survival.

Fig. 1.

Annual age-standardized cancer incidence and death rates by sex for all sites from 1983 to 2015 in Korea. Age standardization was based on the Segi’s world standard population.

Fig. 2.

Trends in age-standardized incidences of selected cancers by sex from 1999 to 2015 in Korea. Age standardization was based on the Segi’s world standard population. (A) Men. (B) Women.

Fig. 3.

Annual age-standardized cancer mortalities of selected cancers by sex from 1983 to 2015 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women. Age-standardization was based on the Segi’s world standard population.

Fig. 4.

Age-specific incidence rates of common cancers for 2015 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women.

Fig. 5.

Trends in relative survival by year of diagnosis from 1999 to 2014. (A) All sites for both sexes. (B) All sites except thyroid cancer for both sexes.

Fig. 6.

Prevalence of common cancer sites by time period after cancer diagnosis. Prevalent cases were defined as the number of cancer patients alive on January 1, 2016 among all cancer patients diagnosed between 1999 and 2015.